Public Statements

Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011

Floor Speech

Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Chairman, we should oppose this dirty air act because it would suggest that we are a nation in a deep and dangerous sleep, dozing in the face of disastrous pollution, slumbering while our children are riddled with asthma. It's time for America to wake up, get up out of our comfortable beds of denial, and get to work building a new, clean economy.

It's time to wake up, America. The Chinese are not sleeping while they build five times more wind turbines than us. The Germans are not sleeping building more solar panels. The Indians are not sleeping who are restricting carbon pollution. It is time to wake up. Nobody in human history has ever won a race while asleep. And that's why it's time for a national awakening by rejecting this bill. It's a time to put engineers to work on clean energy. It's a time to help businesspeople to grow businesses. It's a time to help students learn new technology.

It is an irony, but it's true: You can only dream while you're asleep, but you can only realize a dream when you're awake.

We should believe in American exceptionalism. We are exceptional in innovation, exceptional in entrepreneurship, exceptional in pioneering technology. And if we do these things, the sun we see on the horizon will be a sunrise, not a sunset. It will be a sign of an awakening nation. We'll do this because we will know and America can know the profound satisfaction of building a clean energy economy and producing children free of asthma rather than increasing it like this dirty air act.

Vote ``no'' against this small-minded exercise in pessimism. Vote ``no'' and embrace the optimism that is inherent in our national character.